The Gallery Opening
by passiveaggresive
Summary: Clary needs a date, Jace steps up.


Clary's Saturday was a mix of good and bad. It had started shitty, she woke up and her roomate/brothers latest conquest was still in the apartment. She had walked into the kitchen half asleep and started a pot of coffee when she looked up Jon was trying to get Kaelie out the door and she was trying to tell him that she wanted to go another round. Clary almost puked on the spot.

"Kaelie you guys go through this at least once a week." Clary said making her presence known. "He'll call you tomorrow or the next day when he's horny again." she had said all of this while picking up the rest of the sluts stuff with her finger tips. "Bye Kaelie hope to see you never." She shoved the girl out the door, then turned to glare at her brother who just grinned at her.

"Morning Little Red." he kissed her head she rolled her eyes at the nickname and went back to her coffee pot where she poured herself an overflowing mug of black gold. Once she had woken up a bit more she addressed her brother.

"You're going to be my date tonight to the gallery opening right?" his eyes went wide and he tried to cover it up but she was faster. "You didn't forget that I have a gallery opening tonight did you?"

"Um, maybe?" he scratches the back of his head.

"Jonathan!" she yells "You were supposed to come intimidate that asshole Sebastian Verlac so he would stop bugging me." the end almost sounds like a whine and she is totally fine with that if it gets him to cancel his plans and come with her.

"Red I am so sorry but I can't cancel. I have dinner with a potential investor for this new hotel." her body sagged at this. Clary knew that Jon needed this meeting. There was a knock on the door at that moment. Jon went to open it while Clary pouted. She had perked up when she heard the familiar voice belonging to a golden haired man. As Jon brought Jace into the room Clary basically tackled him. She, Jon and Jace had grown up together and she and Jace were just as close as Jon and Jace were, if not closer. Jace caught her and pulled her into a tight hug that made her heart flutter. There was that too. She might have the tiniest crush on her best friend.

"I didn't know you were going to be in town anytime soon." She said as they pulled away from each other.

"Neither did I to be honest." Jace replied "I have a couple meetings I need to go to later this week but other than that I am all yours." He smiled at her and hi fived Jon. That's when she saw Jon's eyes light up.

"Hey man you got anything going tonight?" he asked. Jace shook his head

"No bro why?"

"Clary has this thing I was supposed to go to with her but I made plans. You can go instead!" Clary tried to signal to her brother that this is a very bad idea but his eyes were only on Jace. The Herondale didn't take more than a minute to consider it before he agreed.

"What time do we have to leave?"

That was how she ended up at her gallery opening with her long time crush and best friend. So yeah not the greatest day so far. The gallery was doing great she had several interested buyers, her personal life was sucking however. Jace had to run to the bathroom and it looks like he got caught by the bimbo who works the desk, why she is even here Clary has no idea.

"Hello Clarissa." and there he was the man she was dreading seeing all night. Her father had tried setting her and Sebastian up a few years ago and it was terrible. She tries to avoid him the best she can but his family were big buyers in the industry and so he is always at openings.

"It's just Clary Sebastian." She says trying to plaster a fake smile on her face as best as possible.

"Well, Clary," he puts an emphasis on her name making her want to roll her eyes, "How about you tell me about this piece." Oh thank god. She thinks art is something she can talk about for ages no matter who she's talking to.

"Um sure, so it's obviously muted but," she trails off as she feels a hand on her back. Clary moves away from Sebastian and continues " as I was saying, I wanted it to come across as alive." as she's talking Sebastian moves closer to her again. Just as she is about to flip out on him she is saved in a very unexpected way

"Hey babe." a kiss is dropped on her temple. She knows who it is and she also knows that the only reason he is able to reach her temple without a very large bend which is her heels. "Who's this?" she is a little out of it from the fact that Jace just called her babe like it was the most normal thing but luckily enough Sebastian loves to overstep and introduces himself.

"Sebastian Verlac and you are?"

"Oh, right of course, so sorry Jonathan Herondale Clary's boyfriend." The first thing that goes through her mind is that he uses his full name, a name that any business man will know. The second thing, the thing that makes her spit out the champagne that she was taking a drink of, all over Sebastian.

"Oh my gosh I am so sorry Sebastian!" He looks down at his definitely ruined tie.

"It's fine Clarissa," she slightly winces at the name "I was thinking of heading out anyway. I will contact you about a few of the pieces I am interested in." with that he walks toward the door and she turns to Jace

"What the hell was that? I asked you to get him to back off not give me a heart attack!" he just smiles at her

"I got him to leave you alone, isn't that what you wanted? Plus it could have gone way worse." She just stares at him shaking her head

"In what way could it have gone worse? Jace let me tell you, there are at least seventeen ways this could have gone better, I am counting them now you ass."

"Well Cherry, that bimbo that was flirting with me earlier could have come over and caused a scene." Jace says while looking over Clary's head

"Why is that even a scenario?" she is about to go on a full scale rant on him then sees the panic on his face "Oh Seelie is on her way over here right now isn't she?" he shakes his head

"Just follow along okay?" He says and before she has a chance to respond he is leaning in and kissing her. It takes he by complete surprise but when he realizes her lips aren't moving he pulls back just enough to whisper against them. "What am I not a good enough kisser for you Cherry?" That's enough for her to grab his neck and pull him back on to her mouth. She is feeling like nothing could ever take her down from this high she's on when Jace pulls away, fully this time. He turns his body to reveal a very pissed off Seelie.

"You know you could have just told me you were seeing someone instead of leading me on earlier." she then smacks him across the face and walks away. Clary gasps at the nail marks her claws leave on his face.

"Oh my gosh are you okay?" she grabs his face. He manages a smile

"Kiss me better?" she blushes and kisses his cheek. He grabs her hand and leads her out of the building "Now come on Angel you know that's not what I meant." He captures her lips with his again and she almost lets herself be pulled into bliss. However she manages to get away and speak

"Jace we need to go clean up your face." He nods his head and lets her lead the way home.

Once they get to the apartment Clary leads Jace to the bathroom. She bends over to look for her first aid kit and when she returns to the upright position finds Jace shamelessly staring at her ass.

"Um hello there? Do you want to stop looking at my butt?" She snaps her fingers in front of his face. This seems to shake him out of whatever trance he was in and put his signature pantydropping smirk on.

"Not particularly Angel. Why? Do you want me to stop?" she feels the telltale sign of herself blushing, aka her face feels like a fire, but she tries to play it cool and rolls her eyes at him.

She hoists herself on to the kitchen counter with the first aid kit open beside her. Jace is just standing in the doorway with the dried blood streaked down his face. Once she is up on the ledge however he seems to get the idea, and walks to stand between her legs. They had both changed out of their nice clothes and all he has on are a pair of black joggers. She tries very hard not to get distracted by his sculpted body, and you think it would be fairly easy because of how much time the man spent shirtless, but it is very hard. She cleans the cuts and soon realizes they aren't nearly as bad as she once thought they were. She wasn't sure were all the blood had come from, the lines on Jace's face were miniscule. They didn't say one word as she was wiping his cheek down, they didn't need to. She and Jace always had this weird kind of connection, they could literally just sit in a room together with nothing else to do and just be in each other's company. No talking was needed, they knew everything they needed to about each other, and maybe even some things they didn't need to. She almost laughed at the thought.

After she had finished Jace had simply turned around in her legs and she put her arms around him. They sat like that for a few hours just talking about stupid stuff ( just because they could sit in silence didn't mean they always wanted to), until Jon came home. He didn't even give the position they were in a second glance because they were always like this, but he did disturb the peace that was resting over them so Clary decided to call it a night.

"Night Jonny." she kissed him on the cheek "Night Jace." and him too. She wanted to kiss Jace for real of course, but she knew that it wasn't a shared feeling. She sighs walking into her room trying to remember every detail of the way his lips felt against hers because she knows that tonight was just a one off thing. Jace didn't like being tied down, and while she didn't quite think that he saw her as a little sister anymore, she was definitely friend-zoned.

Jace was nervous. He was standing outside his best friend's house so he shouldn't be nervous right? Wrong! His best friend just so happens to be this beautiful, spitfire redhead who he has been in love with since he was 15. He is now 25 and has been keeping it a secret from her and her brother , aka Jace's other best friend, for almost ten years now and he doesn't know how much longer he can keep it up. He knocks on the door. Jon answers so he has a another minute to compose himself.

"Jace man!"

"Hey Jonny." he smiles and hugs the white blonde man who then pulls back and throws a glare his way

"You know she's the only one allowed to call me that." Jon says and then motions for Jace to follow "How long you staying man?" Jace starts to answer but is cut off by a hug from his girl. He melts into the embrace and they must have been hugging for a bit to long because Jon cleared his throat. She takes a step back

"I didn't know you were going to be in town anytime soon."

"Neither did I to be honest." He replies, "I have a couple meetings I need to go to later this week but other than that I am all yours." He smiled at her thinking about all the time they would get to spend together. She runs and paints for a gallery so her hours are loose and anytime he's in town she basically just blows off work.

"Hey man you got anything going tonight?" Jon askes a little out of the blue. Jace thinks for a second

"No bro why?"

"Clary has this thing I was supposed to go to with her but I made plans. You can go instead!" Jace doesn't need very much time to think it over, seeing all of Clary's hard work, and her in a dress. It was a no brainer, so he turns to Clary

"What time do we have to leave?"

Clary had given him the run down of why she needed someone to come with her on the way over. Apparently some creep was giving her a hard time and keeps asking her out. Jace had to run to the bathroom and on his way back this woman stops him.

"Hey hot stuff, who are you here tonight?" she bats her eyes in what Jace supposes is her attempt to be appealing but his eyes are very quickly drawn to Clary looking mildly uncomfortable with another man other there. So Jace simply tells this girl that he needs to go and makes his way over to Clary.

" as I was saying, I wanted it to come across as alive." Gosh he could listen to her talk art all day. He pulls out of his trance and swoops in to save the day

"Hey babe." a kiss is dropped on her temple. "Who's this?" she seems a little confused but the douchebag introduces himself

"Sebastian Verlac and you are?" Jace smirks everyone who is anyone knows his name so when he says

``Oh, right of course, so sorry Jonathan Herondale Clary's boyfriend." Sebastian's eyes go wide. Yes he is the youngest billionaire in the century, all because of himself but that doesn't mean the asshole needs to stare, so Jace rolls his eyes at the same time he hears,

"Oh my gosh I am so sorry Sebastian!" and he has to try very hard not to laugh. Clary had somehow gotten her drink all over him.

"It's fine Clarissa," she slightly winces at the name, she hates her full name"I was thinking of heading out anyway. I will contact you about a few of the pieces I am interested in." with that he walks toward the door and she turns to Jace

"What the hell was that? I asked you to get him to back off not give me a heart attack!" he just smiles at her

"I got him to leave you alone, isn't that what you wanted? Plus it could have gone way worse." She just stares at him shaking her head

"In what way could it have gone worse? Jace let me tell you, there are at least seventeen ways this could have gone better, I am counting them now you ass."

He honestly wasn't expecting the girl to slap him, let alone slap him so hard he was bleeding. He couldn't can't even feel it however because he just kissed Clary, twice. And it seemed like she liked it. God he sound like such a girl, he scowls to himself. She leads him to the bathroom and bends over. He can't help it her butt looks phenomenal. Before he knows it she is snapping in his face

"Um hello there? Do you want to stop looking at my butt?" he smirks

"Not particularly Angel. Why? Do you want me to stop?" she blushed hard and rolls her eyes at him.

When Jon came home he had never wanted to punch someone so much in his life. Clary kissed his cheek and said goodnight heading to her room and there was nothing more he wanted to do then follow her in and kiss her senseless. He watched the clock hit one then two and finally when it hit three and he had yet to fall asleep he walked to her room. Didn't bother knocking, just walked in and she sat up as the door opened.

"Jace?"

"Hey Angel, I couldn't sleep." she shuffled over and pulled back her covers

"Me either." he crawled in with her and they were lying face to face. Her breath was hitting his lips and killing him. So he finally did it. He kissed her for the third time that night. And then they did it a fourth and a fifth and a sixth.

"Clary I have to tell you something." he says after about a half-hour

"Okay me too but you can go first." He looked into her eyes and very seriously says

"Clary I am in love with you." she gasps and then kisses him,

"Jace I have been in love with you for years." he smiles and pulls her close to himself.

"So how are we going to tell Jon that we are dating?"

"I don't remember ever being asked Mr. Herondale." she giggles. He rolls his eyes and squeezes her sides so she lets out a squeal

"Clary Angel Cherry Adele Morgenstern, will you be my girlfriend?" she stops laughing

"Jace what are we going to do when you leave?" He smiles at her

"I'm not leaving this time Cherry. My meetings are to find a location to open a new Headquarters here in the city." Now she is smiling back at him

When they tell Jon in the morning all he says is

"About time." and continues drinking his coffee like nothing had changed because other than a label had anything really?


End file.
